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Alfie and the Big Boys by Shirley Hughes
Published by The Bodley Head, 2007

Shirley Hughes’s Dogger won the public vote for the best winner of the Greenaway Medal for picture books of the last 50 years. The Kate Greenaway Medal is awarded annually for an outstanding book in terms of illustration for children and young people.

Dedicated fans of Alfie, of which I’m sure there are many, will be delighted to read about his latest exploits. Alfie is still in nursery school in a new adventure called Alfie and the Big Boys.

Through her instantly recognisable drawings and her appealing style of writing, Shirley Hughes presents a world in this story book that will make every child want to go to Play School. As always with her books, there’s also a reassuring message, in this case she assures her young readers that toughness is not everything.

While Alfie and his little friend Bernard like Nursery School, they would love if the bigger boys, right next door in Big School would take notice of them and let them join in their games. Then one Saturday, quite by chance, everything changes……

“Hughes is a magical storyteller with an instinctive understanding of the mind of the pre-schooler…. she makes the ordinary extraordinary” Guardian